Reflecting on Identity and Assimilation
Our coursework has engaged with German identity and speaks more to the idea of what it means to be “German” or share an identity that is consistent with what society deems the standard. The problems that arise when you don’t fit the molds socially constructed by society provide vast challenges moving forward. My family has experienced this notion first hand. Both my grandparents were born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States to provide a better life for my dad and his siblings. In that process there was a lot of hardship and struggle. Much of the animosity that they faced was from folks making it known that they did not belong in Orange County, California. From discreet micro aggressions to overt harm, these stories of challenges with identity and immigration hit close to home for people all around the world. Growing up hearing stories about their experiences, which have been very different from mine, really impacted me.
Germany’s current struggles with immigration, refugees, and assimilation shed more light into how nuanced and complex it is to have new ideas, beliefs, people, and cultures combined with an existing set of values from a home country. I think about what needs to occur for both parties to be willing to blend traditions inside one community. Additionally, I think about when the benefits of assimilation including the chance for immigrants to acclimate to new environments faster and cultural legacy renewal do not outweigh the costs associated with potential fierce reluctance of one culture to accept and/or adapt another.
As we go to Germany for our trip I am looking forward to seeing the ways in which Germany showcases an openness for new identity and multiculturalism. I look forward to being very observant of how the country not only lives up to the ideals of a socially sustainable system, but I also seek to find ways in which it does not.
